Biz Break: IBM employees petition CEO to back away from Trump

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IBM Chief Executive Ginni Rometty speaks a the company’s IBM PartnerWorld Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida, in February 2016. Some IBM employees have started a petition asking Rometty to stand by the company’s core values and not so close with President Trump.

1,600 and Counting: Last November, and just days after Donald Trump won the presidential election, IBM Chief Executive Ginni Rometty wrote an open letter to the then-president-elect. In her note, Rometty proposed a group of “suggestions” that fell under six different topics that Trump should consider when formulating a national policy toward business.

It sounded pretty helpful. Rometty’s ideas included investing more money in the nation’s infrastructure and cybersecurity systems, and what she called “new collar” jobs in areas such as technology. Among these were jobs requiring engineering and other skills, but which might not involve the classic four years of college, or graduate school. And at the time, it probably made sense for the CEO of one of the world’s biggest technology companies to show a willingness to get on the good side of the next president. Rometty ended up taking a seat on President Trump’s business advisory council.

Many of Trump’s moves have led to loud and very visual protests across the country. Along those lines, some business leaders have felt pressure to move away from the president. The most visible of those, so far, has been Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who last week stepped down from Trump’s business advisory council, following protests about his participation on the council. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also been pressured to distance himself from the president, but has so far vowed to remain on Trump’s council.

And that brings us back to Rometty, who is now dealing with her own anti-Trump uprising.

An online petition urging Rometty in not so many words to re-think her position about remaining close to the president has been posted online and, as of this writing, has garnered signatures from more than 1,800 IBM employees. While the petition doesn’t call upon Rometty to quit Trump’s business advisory council, it does suggest that many IBM employees want their CEO to recommit to company policies regarding inclusion and that are against discrimination in any form.

“We are disappointed that IBM CEO Ginni Rometty’s open letter to President-elect Donald Trump does not affirm IBMers’ core values of diversity, inclusiveness, and ethical business conduct,” reads the petition. “We assert our right to refuse participation in any U.S. government contracts that violate constitutionally protected civil liberties.”

The petition also asks that Rometty help to “prevent perceived influence peddling through Trump affiliated businesses,” and for IBM to “return to our traditions of high worker retention and morale by making retirement plans equitable once again.”

The petition’s organizers are said to be planning to present their batch of signatures to IBM’s management, soon. So far, Rometty hasn’t made any public comments about the petition, nor has she signaled that she may go the route of Kalanick and quit Trump’s council outright. Whatever happens, some IBMers are making sure their boss knows that not all at Big Blue are on the president’s team.

Middle Innings:

And in the White House: Intel CEO Brian Krzanich did his part to remain in President Trump’s good graces on Wednesday.

At a White House meeting, Krzanich told the president that Intel would invest $7 billion in a manufacturing factory in Arizona that will employ 3,000 workers near Phoenix. When asked about whether Trump did anything to spur Intel’s investment, Krzanich said, “It’s really in support of the tax and regulatory policies that we see the administration pushing forward that really make it advantageous to do manufacturing in the U.S.”

From Amazon to Apple: The market for TV apps, and the devices that allow people to use them, is becoming more and more competitive. So has the battle among companies for the minds and experience of those who know the business of set-top boxes, which are changing how consumers watch TV.

And there’s been some job-changing between two of the bigger names in video-streaming: Apple and Amazon.

According to Bloomberg, Apple has hired Timothy Twerdahl to head up its Apple TV product marketing efforts. Twerdahl is said to have joined Apple last month after almost four years as general manager and director of Amazon’s Fire TV business. The move is seen as Apple putting more emphasis on Apple TV, and looking at developing its own original TV programming.

Like many set-top boxes, Apple TV allows users to buy and rent TV shows and movies, as well as use apps to watch streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube. Apple doesn’t disclose exact sales figures for Apple TV. It includes the device among its “other products” during quarterly earnings reports.

Bottom of the Lineup:

Here’s a look at how some leading Silicon Valley stocks did Wednesday.

In the Red: Decliners included Gilead Sciences, Netgear, GoPro, Tessera Holding and Zynga.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2 percent to 5,682.45.

The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.2 percent to end the day at 20,054.34.

And the broad-based Standard & Poor’s 500 Index edged up by 0.1 percent to 2,294.67.

Quote of the Day: ““I’m going to guarantee you that nobody ever wins 74 games. Ever.” — Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, speaking on the possibility that another NBA will someday top the Warriors’ record 73-win season.

Rex Crum is the senior web editor for the business section for The Mercury News and Bay Area News Group. He also writes about business and technology for the publications' print and web editions, and has covered business and technology for nearly two decades. A native of Seattle, he remains a diehard Seahawks and Mariners fan and is imparting his fandom to his Oakland-native wife and two young daughters.